Teaching Band

Fundraising - Pancake Breakfast

So, I am in the process of planning for next school year, and one of our biggest events is our annual Fall Concert and Pancake Breakfast.  A few months ago, I wrote about fundraising ideas and guidelines, and I mentioned this one.  This is my favorite fundraiser.  The kids come and play, the families eat pancakes, and we make money - not a bad combination.

There are two sides to this event.  The first is the concert - we will have 10 different ensembles scheduled during the day next year.  Each one will get a 15 minute time slot at various times during the morning. They are lined up based on two factors: 1.  The largest groups get time slots far apart, to keep the crowd under control.  We sold about 1200 tickets last year, and our cafeteria can hold about 350 people comfortably.  2. We try to line them up so the beginning bands and their parents can hear the older groups.  This is for recruiting purposes.. Recruiting is a year-long event.

The other side of this event is the fundraiser.  We are somewhat confident that we can make $15,000 on that Saturday.  We sold 1200 tickets last year with 350 kids enrolled in band.  This year we are close to 500, so ticket sales will be better.  We also do a silent auction, with a goal of $5000.

We sell tickets for $5, and $7 at the door.  The cost to us per ticket is usually less than 75 cents.  The meal includes all-you-can-eat pancakes, plus sausage, juice, and coffee. We order the sausage through the school's food vendor, the juice through a Sam's Club, and the coffee is usually donated.  For the pancake batter, we ask the kids to bring in a box of pancake mix (just add water).  We always have more than enough.

On the day of, we have parents come in shifts to cook pancakes.  Many bring griddles from home, and they all seem to have a good time.  A lot of the parents know each other, and it is a social experience for them. 

The silent auction is handled by the parents.  We are in the process of sending out requests for donations.  We get all kinds of things - gift cards, theme park tickets, sports tickets, memorabilia, etc... 

This is my favorite event for many reasons, but mostly because the kids are going door to door selling things.  They show up, each group plays for fifteen minutes, and we make money.  The whole event is done in one day, and then we can move on.  There are no items to pass out, additional money to collect, or prizes to pass out.  

Let me know if you would like more information, I'd be glad to share order forms, schedules, etc.. Also, let me know if you try it, or if you do it and have suggestions.  I am always looking for new ideas.

60 minutes or less...

One of the things I struggled with for a long time was the length of my concerts.  I wanted to make sure my groups played a full program of quality literature, and I wanted to make sure every kid in my program stayed to here every band.  As my program got bigger, the concerts got longer and longer.  At it's worst point, I had 5 different groups that played at least 4 pieces each.  That concert was nearly 2 hours.  While I thought it was great, parents were ready to leave, it was warm in the auditorium, the kids were not paying attention any longer, babies were crying, etc... 

It has been my goal over the last couple of years to make them as short as possible - lots of quality, and not so much quantity.  My last two concerts this year were each under 45 minutes.  Now, I split my groups up into 2 separate concerts which makes it easier.  The parents loved it, and everyone stayed until the end. There were less behavior issues from students in the audience, and the audience seemed to be more engaged.

There were three basic guidelines I used to keep them short:

1.  I talk as little as possible.  I had a script for kids to read from, which was also short.  I spoke only before the final piece for the final group.  

2.  Each group gets 15 minutes to play.  That is a long time for beginning bands, because most pieces are a couple of minutes. This was more challenging for my older groups.  I will write about how I selected the music later this week.

3.  I had my stage changes planned ahead of time, with written directions, and parent volunteers.  At these concerts, our group changes always took less than 5 minutes.

Do you have any suggestions for keeping concerts short??